I went down today and really enjoyed it. Got there a bit early and was treated to a free drink (other half had a tea while I had a nice raspberry and orange drink.
You enter the main room by way of a time line show the last few decades and how Vauxhall has changed. Once in the main room there are various Vauxhalls in the centre, the Australian ASBO VX, an Insignia VXR, all three Astra shapes, an Antara, a Meriva, a Zafira and an Ampera. There are two Adams in two chambers off to the fore left and at least three Mokkas, to chambers to the aft. The one to the rear right is an Exclusiv with Space saver option next to a Batack wall (got 69!) and a crazy RC Ampera track. The other half showed me why I'd feel more comfortable driving home by smashing hers repeatedly into a wall. The rear left chamber has a SE with the Sat Nav in it and the space saver and an Exclusiv with the flex fit carrier on it thought I could work out how the thing pivots to get into the boot. Near to them is a competition to see how many balls are in an Astra. In the front centre of theain chamber is the entrance to the "brain washing" talk as the fiancée called it where they unfailing the Adam and the Mokka (probably explaining why the cars are slightly hidden as well as a Cascada (which really looks nice). Once done in there they take you out the back to the test drive area where you're paired with a pro driver and given the choice of car. There were propper coffee baristas and more free drinks inside including hot chocs with marcallows and whipped cream.
Unfortunately there were no Diesel Mokkas there so opted for the 1.4turbo. The circuit leads out of the airport to a mix of roads that head towards Fleet at first then round back towards Aldershot and then back to Farnborough and into the airport again. Very odd this procession of Vauxhalls streaming round with their day LEDs on nice and bright. Next up was the Ampera which was very odd the way it just goes without the generator kicking in. The other half fancied a drive but she said she had forgotten the paper part of her license - not they ever checked for it so she probably could have gotten away with it.
Mokka wise I really liked the car, driving position was nice, plenty of knee room in the back once I had set up the seat for 5ft 10 frame. I was kind of expecting a panel between the space saver and what I thought was a false floor in the boot. Biggest surprise was the UK propper plug socket in the back of the centre console! Seats fold almost totally flat nice and easily. The SE has part electric seats. Forwards and back, up and down is manual but the tilt and other stuff seems to be on the wheel. It felt right to drive, I just got in and didn't really notice anything. Only on e was I lacking for power but that was because I was in too high a gear. If you take Eco mode off as well it's a bit more punchy and revy as well.
Don't know how many of the staff were Vauxhall, a lot belonged to Drive a company that puts on stuff like this for all types of manufacturers but they were all really nice. The whole thing was nice and slick and I was very impressed that it was free including all the refreshments.
